Karl's Reading List

Published as an audiobook by Recorded Books, 2000. Narrated by Barbara Caruso. First published 1886. The sequel to ' Little Men. ' This is the last book in the series that began with Little Women , and, like the book before this one , focuses more on the next generation, particularly the boys who attended the school run by Mr and Mrs Bhaer (that latter of whom began life as Jo March). Now those boys have grown up, and as such this book has the distinction of being the only book in the series to almost exclusively focus on adult characters (unless you count Good Wives as its own entry, rather than part 2 of Little Women ). This really changes the feel of Jo's Boys, and unfortunately it is not always for the better. Good Wives at least had the ongoing relationship issues and tight family unit of the Marches to focus on. Jo's Boys, on the other hand, has a number of boys, now young adults, who have gone their own way and don't have much interaction with each other. Thi...

Published by Simon and Schuster UK Ltd: London, 2014. This is a weird book that's been on my classroom library shelf for quite a while. The main character, Travis, had terminal cancer five years ago, and agreed to have his head cryogenically frozen, in the hope that in the future it would be possible to attach it to a donor body. Now, he has woken up, only the second patient to successfully have the procedure complete, to find that everyone in his world, including his parents, his best friend and his girlfriend, have lived five extra years of life. Travis is sixteen, and the difference between a sixteen-year-old and a twenty-one-year-old is a much bigger difference than it would have been had Travis been an adult. Also, his girlfriend Cate is now engaged to someone else. The difference between a sixteen-year-old and a twenty-one-year-old is also small enough that it is conceivable that Cate and Kyle (his former best friend) would also still be keen to in-some-way have Travis back i...

Published by Penguin Books: London, 2017. This book is fairly popular amongst my students presently, and (like many of the books I have read this year, it turns out) is another murder mystery. The gimmick for this one is that the crime happens during a high school detention. Each of our characters/suspects fits a broad stereotype (somewhat like the characters in The Breakfast Club ) and yet, of course, they each have secrets ready to be revealed. The secrets are particularly important in the plot of this book, as the murder victim - Simon - ran a blog in which he would reveal the secrets of his fellow students. It turns out that he had a blog post prepared in which each of our four main characters was going to be exposed in some way, and considering that each of the characters seem to have arrived in detention under suspicious circumstances, it is possible that each of them could have done it. Or is it? As with In the Hall With the Knife (the Cluedo inspired book I read earlier in the...

Published as an audiobook by Orion Publishing Group, 2012. Originally published 2007. Narrated by Rupert Degas. Book 1 of 'The Kingkiller Chronicle.' This audiobook was a mixed bag for me. It takes a little while to get going, but eventually becomes a very interesting look at the development of a hero, told from the perspective of the now-jaded-and-retired hero narrating his story to a famous chronicler (who calls himself Chronicler). Kvothe (pronounced Quoth), begins life as part of a travelling troupe of entertainers. He is also trained in mystical arcanist arts by his mentor-figure Abenthy, who Kvothe witnessed harnessing the name of the wind, and calls him 'Ben' - like a certain other famous mystical-mentor figure. When tragedy strikes, Kvothe flees and undertakes a number of journeys and adventures as he grows: he lives a beggar for a few years, he learns to play the lute beautifully even with missing strings, he joins the arcanist university at a young age, he sav...

Published by Amulet Books/Abrams Books: New York, NY, 2020 (2019). I came across this book when I saw a student reading it in class, and was curious enough to get it out after them. As the title may give away, this book is inspired by the game Cluedo (or Clue in America). It is even subtitled 'A Clue Mystery', although it is a fairly loose adaptation, with the characters now almost all being high-school students, and their names and characters being reworked to fit that setting better. So, instead of 'Professor Plum' we now have Phineas 'Finn' Plum, who is a science geek but very much not a professor. And instead of Colonel Mustard we have Sam 'Mustard' Maestor, a relative new-comer to the school with a military school background. Mrs White, however, remains pretty much identical to her character in the game. The setting is much closer to the game, with the house in question - Tudor House - being an old accommodation building in the school grounds, with ...

Published by Huia Publishers: Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2022 (2021). Niho Taniwha is a book written for teachers, looking at Māori learning and how teachers can support (particularly) Māori students to greater success academically. The author brings a lot of her own understanding (she is Māori herself, and has had her children go through the schooling system), as well as quoting a number of studies to support her claims - including numerous studies that she herself has taken part in (she has a teaching background and  a doctorate). It is a very interesting book and is also one that my Head of Department at Nayland has used quite a bit, so elements of it are quite familiar to me. There are aspects of the book that might be controversial to some people, because of particular buzz-words or phrases which can, admittedly at times, be used to attack certain cultures or understandings. In particular, phrases like 'white privilege' or 'historical trauma' may cause some ...

Published by Collins (Wm. Collins and Co. Ltd.): London and Glasgow, date unknown. First published in 1871. The sequel to ' Little Women/Good Wives. ' Followed by ' Jo's Boys. ' Two random points of information to note regarding this particular entry on the list: 1) This is the first book that Elise and I have finished together this year! I think this is the longest we've taken to finish something since we've been married, and that reflects mostly on the busy-ness (and resulting lack of energy) of life with a baby. 2) When we finished this book, I read out 'The End' and Elise queried my pronunciation of the word 'the.' This led us down a rabbit hole in which we suddenly realised that we all pronounce 'the' differently depending on whether it is followed by a vowel or a consonant! How have I reached this age and not realised that before!! Anyway... Little Men is the sequel to Little Women (and Good Wives, if you count Good Wives as a s...

Published by Vintage Books: London, 2010. First published 1993. This is a 'coming-of-age' story of sorts, starring ten-year-old Paddy Clarke. He hangs out with his mates, getting into low-level trouble (the sort that ten-year-old 'gangs' would get into) in his home town of Barrytown. The story is told from his perspective, and really leans into it, using short sentences and changing scenes abruptly, as if the ten-year-old narrator has suddenly thought of something else he wants to talk about. As the book progresses, Paddy's voice does mature a bit, but the overall timeframe of the narrative is not enough for him to change his narration style all that much. Sometimes this 'purposefully simplistic' style can be to a book's detriment ( Life and Times of Michael K springs to mind), but Doyle finds the balance - Paddy's story may meander but the innocent feel is enough to keep the reader hooked.  This 'innocent' feel is slowly challenged as Paddy...

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing: London, Berlin, New York, 2008. This short poetic book is the sequel to the short poetic book  Love That Dog, a book I have previously read (though apparently long enough ago that it's not on any of my reading lists!). In Love That Dog we are introduced to Jack, a student who struggles to engage with English in any way (it appears he is somewhat on the spectrum). His teacher, Miss Stretchberry, introduces him to poetry through having him write a journal (which we read as the book) and through looking at poems about dogs (which Jack loves). Hate That Cat picks up the following year, with Jack once again writing a journal in Miss Stretchberry's class, once again resisting writing poetry about anything but dogs (especially not about cats, which a Jack hates ) and now grieving the loss of his dog, Sky. Of course, his teacher slowly stretches him into learning new poetic features and challenges his assumptions about cats. As with Love That Dog, t...

From an original idea by Siobhan Dowd. Published by Walker Books: London, England, 2012 (2011). This is one of those books I've heard people rave about, and now I understand why. Technically a children's book, and definitely written with (older) children in mind, A Monster Calls nevertheless confronts some very heavy topics. Conor faces bullying at school, constant nightmares, and now the nightly visit of a monster, but all of this pales alongside the fact that his mother is dying of cancer. I don't remember the word 'cancer' being actually written in the book, but it is very obvious that this is what she is suffering from. It is also very obvious from the beginning that Conor's mother is dying. The titular monster begins visiting Conor at 12.07 at night, and explains that Conor has 'called' him. The monster says it will now tell him three stories "from when I walked before" (page 45), and then Conor will tell the monster a final story, which w...

Published by Puffin Books: London, England, 2008 (2006). Book 2 in the 'Percy Jackson' series. Preceded by ' Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. ' Followed by ' Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse. ' As with the previous entry in this series, Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters follows the titular Percy Jackson, son of the Greek god Poseidon, as he journeys around modern day America facing updated versions of various Greek legends. In this entry, Percy Jackson's satyr friend Grover has gone missing, and Camp Half-Blood is coming under attack by more and more monsters as its border-magic is beginning to weaken. Percy and Annabeth, along with Tyson (a young Cyclops) set out to the Sea of Monsters to both save Grover and hopefully retrieve the Golden Fleece, which will be able to help strengthen the camp's border-magic. Once again Luke, son of Hermes, appears as one of the villains, and the over-arching plot of Kronos seeking to be resurrected is a...

Published by Puffin Books: Great Britain, 2013 (2005). Book 1 in the 'Percy Jackson' series. Followed by ' Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters. ' This year our school library has been a little less available than in past years due to some building projects on the go in the school, so I have slowly been collecting a variety of books that (hopefully) my students will enjoy. And at times, when the classes are doing independent work and I don't need to be monitoring them as much, I've been reading some of those books for myself.  Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is the first in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and was made into a movie which I have seen. However, it is one of those movies that fans of the books were relatively unhappy with, and having read the original book I can now understand why. The differences are numerous. In the book Percy is only 12, Grover the satyr already has his horns, and many elements of the book's quest are ignor...

Published by Puffin Books: New Zealand, 2010. (2004). This is the second book by David Hill that I have read, and like No Safe Harbour , this book also focuses around a single event and its aftermath. However, whereas Harbour focussed on the historical sinking of the Wahine, Coming Back focuses on a much smaller-scale, though still life-altering event, a teenager getting hit by a car. Tara is running home from her job working at a fish n chip shop and, slightly distracted and stumbling as she crosses the road, is struck by a car driven by Ryan, a driver on his restricted licence who has been illegally carrying passengers and had also been distracted at the wrong moment. Ryan stops to help, and Tara is rushed off to hospital where she begins a fight for her life. The perspectives shift back and forth between Ryan and Tara, although much of Tara's perspective is whilst still unconscious and trying to understand what has happened to her. The book does a good job of keeping us uncertai...

Published by Huia Publishers: Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2013. This one wasn't for me. A Young Adult novel written by a Kiwi author (and one whom I had previously enjoyed reading ), Bugs seemed like a good book to try as we look for more English curriculum books in my college. But, nah... Bugs is a Maori teenager living in Taupo with her solo mother. We never learn Bugs' real name (although it starts with 'Al'), with her nickname being given early on in life - based on Bugs Bunny. Bugs is tough, argumentative, and very intelligent, although none of her teachers seem to see it. Bugs' mother does , and is trying to push her daughter to study law at university. Bugs resents the amount others in her life are focused on her future, just wanting to enjoy being a teenager, and hanging with her good friend Jez (Jeremy). The arrival of a new rich white girl, Charmaine 'Stone Cold' Fox, threatens to upset even this, as Jez develops a crush on the new girl, and ...

Published by Librivox on 2011-02-03. Listened to on YouTube. Narrated by Elizabeth Klett, with other voices provided by various narrators. Originally published as 'Little Women' in 1868 and 'Good Wives' (UK) or 'Little Women Volume Two' (US) in 1869. Republished as a single work 1880. Followed by ' Little Men. ' Wow. What a book/s!  Although knowing the basic outline of the story (I have seen the Winona Ryder movie version years ago, Elise has seen the Saoirse Ronan version and a stage-play) neither of us were prepared for just how sweet, heartwarming, instructional and... well...  Christian the original book is. Each chapter felt like a warm hug, in that the characters would learn and grow in the most ideal ways, even when learning to face some dark moments of life. The tear-jerking moments were appropriately tear-jerking, the heart-warming moments delightfully heartwarming, and the sly (semi-sarcastic at times, though never cruel) nature of the narrati...

Printed by yourbooks.co.nz: New Zealand, 2019. Despite the outsized title, White Lies, Māori Myths and Fairytales is not a collection of white lies, Māori myths and fairytales; it is a novel. 12 year old Pētera (Pete) and his best friend Hone (John) dream of making the under-14s side at their local school, and eventually the All Blacks. Pete, however, is starting to become less confident that he will do so, as he is one of the smallest in his year and is also starting to be targeted by the bully Wiremu, who wants to steal his prized Damian McKenzie autograph. On top of this, Pete is having to cope with a racist principal and his annoying daughter Wendy, a sister who smirks at him constantly, the pressures of his father, the departure of his mother, and before too long, a serious illness that strikes close to home. If this sounds like a lot of storylines, it is. This is Dowling-Mitchell's first book, and although it  does show a very authentically 'Kiwi' voice coming throug...

Published by Scholastic Inc.: New York, 1996. First published 1988. Matilda is a funny little story - as most of Roald Dahl's stories are. Matilda, the youngest child of Mr and Mrs Wormwood, is a very intelligent girl, a bookworm (with a special love of Charles Dickens - also a common trait in Roald Dahl books) in a family of television addicts and low-level criminals.  Similar to the first chapters of The Twits, Matilda begins the story with a series of pranks, these ones designed to get revenge against her parents for their wrongdoing - an odd subject for a children's book really. Although Matilda is doing some fairly naughty things, we are never in doubt that her parents (especially her father) deserve what's coming to them. They also show Matilda's creativity and strong sense of justice, which will come into play later in the story. Once Matilda begins attending school (as a five and a half year old), we are introduced to the sweet and gentle Miss Honey, as well as ...

Published by Walker Books Australia Pty Ltd: Newtown, Australia, 2014. This book was written by the friend of a friend, and was recommended to me by them as a good local book written in the Young Adult genre.  The first thing that comes to mind when talking about Spark is the amount of longing in the book. Wow! It's like Twilight- level desire. The main characters are deeply attracted to each other, and it oozes out of the page, never to an explicit or deeply uncomfortable level, but it is still a main feature of the book. It is also not just a longing between two romantically-inclined characters; there are also other types of longing in the book that are not attached to emotional desire. The longing involved is a major part of the story, too. Evie Everton is living with her aunt after the death of her mother, when her friend Kitty and former flame/Kitty's brother Jamie arrive back in the area. Evie is suffering from strange hallucinations and bursts of strength, and when she t...

Published by Pearson Education: Essex, England, 2004. First published 2002. Hoot is one.  A hoot. Wait, let me start over. Hoot is a fun book. We follow Roy Eberhardt, a new arrival in the Floridan town of Coconut Cove, as he seeks to learn the secrets of the mysterious barefoot boy whilst avoiding the attention of bully Dana Matherson at his local school. We also follow Officer David Delinko who is attempting to solve a series of vandalisms aiming to delay the construction of a new 'Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House'. The two stories overlap regularly, with one mysterious (fairly obviously) being tied into the other early on. But what makes Hoot fun is its quirky style and fun characters. Various plot points may be easy to figure out, but at other points the story zigs when it seems like it will zag. Roy, for example, is willing to stand up to Dana in foolhardy ways, and seems a glutton for punishment, while the barefoot boy, and another character (Beatrice Leep) h...

Published by Puffin Books: England, 1995. First published 1977. I saw the movie version of Bridge to Terabithia some years ago, so I knew the basic plot, but it isn't a book I've ever read before.  Jesse Oliver Aarons, Jr (nicknamed Jess), is a ten year old boy growing up in the post-Vietnam era United States. He is the middle child out of five, and the only boy in the family. His sisters' names are (in descending order): Ellie, Brenda, May Belle and Joyce Ann - names that give you a rough idea of the sort of area in America the family are based, as well as the stereotypical accent with which they speak! Jess befriends Leslie Burke, his new neighbour, and together the two children invent a made-up country called Terabithia, based largely on Leslie's recollections of the Narnia series by CS Lewis, in which they are kings and queens. Unlike Narnia, Terabithia is never portrayed as anything other than a product of Jess and Leslie's imagination, and also is often not th...